Biloxi Sun-Herald

09/10/05

Since Katrina departed, some residents have been faced with confusion and frustration. To compound the confusion, residents were shocked Friday to see a work crew laying out double coil rows of razor wire, also called concertina wire. Lynn Bauer, who is living with her mother after her Mills Avenue home was damaged, said she also was stopped from accessing her home. 'I want to get to work taking out the drywall, insulation and flooring. The longer I wait, the worse it's going to be,' Bauer said. At a briefing of the Emergency Operations Center Saturday, Col. Joe Spraggins, chief of emergency services for Harrison County, said he decided to install the razor wire to secure the stretches of land between checkpoints. 'I can put 1,000 national guardsman there (instead), but that's a waste of assets,' Spraggins said. He said the wire is easy to lay down and remove. 'We are not trying to put you in a concentration camp or make it look like a war zone,' he said. A concentration camp is exactly what Bauer thought of when she first saw the wire...

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Informant: Thomas L. Knapp